Brynn Holden (left) and the Briarcrest
girls basketball team fell in the Div. 2 state semifinals, but the Saints’ boys will play for a state championship.
U of M signee scores 20 in win over Father Ryan
NASHVILLE — The Briarcrest Christian School boys basketball team is one victory from its first state championship since 2008.
University of Memphis signee Austin Nichols sparked a big third quarter and several players came up with key plays in the fourth to hold off a late Nashville Father Ryan rally as the Saints defeated the Fighting Irish, 58-51, in the Division 2-AA semifinals Thursday at Allen Arena.
In Saturday’s 11 a. m. championship game, the Saints (27- 6) will take on Nashville Ensworth, which defeated Montgomery Bell Academy in the other semifinal.
Said Saints coach John Harrington, “It’s been a long road, but we’ve definitely taken it one game at a time. We weren’t thinking about a state championship after the 15th game of the season. We weren’t thinking about it after the 20th game. But as we’ve gotten closer . . . we’ve started to think about it.”
With Father Ryan (189) doing an effective job on Nichols, the Saints led just 20-19 at the break. But Nichols, who went 8 of 12 from the floor and finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, scored 11 points in the third quarter to help Briarcrest create some breathing room.
“I think he’s one of the top 10 post players in the country,” said Jamonte Graham, who led Father Ryan with 21 points.
“He’s very tough to guard and he can score with either hand. He’s very tough to play against.”
The Saints led 37-27 after three, a lead that would grow to as many as 13 points early in the fourth quarter.
Nichols carried the load in the second half, but the 6-9 senior tipped his cap to his teammates.
“When I got the ball they started double-teaming me, but I’ve got good teammates and they made some big shots on the big stage,” he said.
As Harrington pointed out in the postgame press conference, though, a team like Father Ryan that has 11 seniors wasn’t going to go away so easily. And indeed, the Fighting Irish cut the margin to 50- 47 late in the fourth, before the Saints put the game away.
BCS GIRLS FALL IN STATE SEMIFINALS
There are bad games. And then there’s what the Briarcrest girls went through in Thursday’s TSSAA Division 2-AA state semifinal game.
The Saints missed shots in every conceivable way, shooting 7 percent for the game, and lost to Brentwood Academy, 51-23. Briarcrest, which entered the contest riding a 26-game winning streak, ends the year with a 27-2 record.
“It’s frustrating because I thought we had a chance to win it all this year,” said Briarcrest coach Lee Smith. “Of course, we’d need some luck to go our way, but I never thought we’d come out and not rebound and shoot it like we did.”